A York County deputy will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting a 22-year-old man armed with a knife in Fort Mill in January.

16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett ruled that York County Sheriff's Office Deputy Colton Garrett Keasler acted in self-defense and to protect others when he shot and killed Allan Josue Topete-Guevara on Jan. 30 at a home on Pine Ridge Court, off U.S. 21. Brackett communicated his finding to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) in a letter first reported by The Herald.

The Jan. 30 shooting was the first of two fatal police shootings in Fort Mill in 2026. Brackett has now ruled both justified.

What happened on Pine Ridge Court

Someone at the home called 911 that morning to report a person who was unconscious and not breathing, according to the York County Coroner's Office. When a deputy arrived around 9 a.m., Topete-Guevara told the officer he was in the bathroom and had stabbed himself, according to Brackett's letter.

Brackett wrote that the deputy repeatedly asked Topete-Guevara to put down the knife and come out unarmed so he could receive medical help. Topete-Guevara did not comply.

"After repeated, unsuccessful attempts to get him to put down the knife so that the deputy could render medical assistance the door opened and Mr. Topete-Guevara emerged with the knife in his hand moving towards the deputy," Brackett wrote.

Topete-Guevara died at the scene.

Keasler had served with the sheriff's office for more than five years at the time, according to spokesperson Trent Faris. No statement from Topete-Guevara's family appears in public records as of publication.

Investigation and body camera footage

York County Sheriff Tony Breeden asked SLED to independently investigate the shooting. Brackett reviewed the evidence, including body camera footage from officers on scene, before issuing his ruling.

The sheriff's office is not releasing the body camera video, Faris told The Herald. Under South Carolina law, body camera footage is not a public record subject to the state's Freedom of Information Act. Agencies can release it voluntarily but are not required to do so, according to the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

Second Fort Mill shooting also ruled justified

The Jan. 30 incident was the first of two fatal police shootings in Fort Mill in 2026. On Tuesday, June 2, Rock Hill police officers Ian Graham and Justin McClurkin, assigned to a county task force, shot and killed 74-year-old Yves Joseph Venne at his apartment on Sycamore Drive off Springfield Parkway.

Brackett ruled that shooting justified as well, writing in a separate letter to SLED that Venne held a tire iron that had "the distinct appearance of a shotgun barrel." Officers were serving a search warrant related to an investigation into child sexual abuse material at the time, The Herald reported.

As the elected 16th Circuit solicitor, Brackett holds final authority to determine whether a police shooting is lawful and whether criminal charges will be filed. No charges were filed in either case.